Digital Strategy & Portfolio Manager

Job summary

We are seeking a Digital Strategy & Portfolio Manager to join the Finance Change & Transformation Team, providing strong strategy and programme management discipline across a complex portfolio of digital, data and business change activity.

The Synergy programme is one of government’s largest transformation initiatives, replacing core HR, finance, procurement and payroll processes and improving the digital experience for users across Defra and its organisations. This role will support Senior Finance Leaders and central finance digital & data teams to develop credible implementation plans, provide expertise on how to best achieve digital & data outcomes through excellent planning, change and dependency management and prepare for adoption of the Synergy solution from 2028.

This is a unique opportunity to work at the heart of a major finance transformation, shaping how finance services are delivered across the Defra group. The roles will suit people with a track record of leading improvement, implementing end-to-end digital and data change, working in complex environments and bringing stakeholders together around a common way of working.

Job description

As Digital Strategy & Portfolio Manager, you will lead the mobilisation to deliver on a new Finance Digital & Data Strategy, ensuring activities and workstreams are focused on measurable outcomes and the portfolio has clear effective governance, risk management, stakeholder engagement and change management.

The key workstreams of the strategy cover: a new digital delivery framework, data foundations, data analytics & reporting, skills & capability, and digital experience & adoption.

Person specification

• Establish and then lead the day-to-day running of the digital & data portfolio, with ownership and accountability for delivering agreed outcomes within time, cost, and quality constraints.

• Build strong working relationships with key stakeholders (internal and external) to support delivery and ensure what is delivered meets user needs.

• Act as the central coordination point across stakeholders, driving alignment, accountability and informed decision-making.

• Develop and maintain robust delivery plans, and relevant risks, issues, assumptions and dependencies.

• Establish robust project controls to keep the project on track and develop appropriate stakeholder reporting to track progress and inform decision making.

• Manage the budget to track project spend, and identifying expected benefits and assessing whether they will be realised.

• Role model commitment to personal development, promoting individual and team performance through support, guidance, and coaching, also being an active member of the Defra Project Delivery Profession Community.

• Provide delivery support for specific digital products, including readiness, communications, training, transition to BAU, risk management and issue resolution.

Recommended qualifications (or equivalent):

• PRINCE2 Practitioner

• Agile Project Management Practitioner

• APM Project Management Qualification

• APM Chartered Project Professional

• Project Leadership Programme

• PMI Project Management Professional

• Leading and Managing Project Workstreams

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Detailed knowledge of project and change methodologies and frameworks, as well as governance, assurance, planning, and change control in a project or programme environment, supported by professional qualifications.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £58,207, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £16,862 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Application Process

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV, a Personal Statement (no more than 250 words) and 250-word per Behaviour statements (Changing & Improving, Working Together & Delivering at Pace).

Further details around what this will entail are detailed on the application form.

Sift

Should there be a large number of successful applications, there will be an initial sift assessing the Personal Statement. Those who pass the initial sift will either be progressed to a full sift or straight to interview.

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Interview

If successful at application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on Behaviours, Technical skills and Experience.

If selected to attend an interview you will be required to make a short, informal presentation to the panel. Those invited to interview will be provided with further information as part of the interview invitation process.

Your interview will be conducted virtually via MS Teams.

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Further Information

Location

As part of the pre-employment process for this post, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s).

Where the location is ‘National’ the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.

The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include